Before and after selfie

I wish I had had the foresight to do this when I stopped. The value of hindsight and all that means that I missed the opportunity, but you don’t have to if you are reading this and still drinking.

What I wish is that I had taken a ‘before I stopped drinking’ selfie. Why? Because once you get a fair amount of time under your belt you begin to forget how awful it was and the impact that it had on you both physically and psychologically. A picture of me looking dog rough the morning after the night before – resplendent with blood shot eyes, puffy grey face and expression of ‘I am in world of pain’ would serve as a warning and a reminder of what had been before. Plus I have could have taken a selfie now and compared the ‘before’ and ‘after’ to see how much better I look. People tell me I look great but when the change is so gradual you don’t necessarily notice it yourself and these pictures would help with that.

Now wolfie is stirring at the tiniest thought (crafty bugger) of the need to go back and drink again so that I can get this ‘before’ photo, for the benefit of the blog of course, but I’m not falling for it. I will take a picture now at almost 6 months and compare it to myself in a year’s time instead 🙂

Here it is 😉

Edited to add: A member of the Soberistas community has recently done this – taking a selfie on Day 1 and then again 3 weeks later and the results are gobsmackingly amazing and shocking at the same time. They look like a different person!

Edited to add: 21st March 2016 The Metro ran a story with accompanying photo’s of a Reddit user who shared before and after selfies – take a look here

17 thoughts on “Before and after selfie”

I saw the pictures on Soberistas. It was an amazing transformation. I was looking through old photos the other day. I could pinpoint every single occasion I had been drinking. I get this sort of glazed-over look. It truly is awful. You’re photo is lovely. It doesn’t match the picture I had of you in my head at all though. 🙂

I have a picture of me on my 60th you could see the puffy face, glassy eyes, it’s not pretty. Now my skin practically glows and my face looks so much thinner. Who knew being alcohol free was such an amazing beauty treatment. I looked like Gwyneth when I was 30 lol!
Sharon

I understand why it might seem like a good idea, but any external deterrent doesn’t actually serve as a long term solution. Sober women are definitely hotter than drunk women. And weirdly long term curves go to places drinking women can’t sustain them (only women who totally stop drinking though, that’s why people don’t tend to see it that often).
It’s nice to look better but l always hear alarm bells when women try and use it as an excuse not to drink. To me it comes from a place of feeling like they are missing out by not drinking and need a shield between them and the temptation. Change that belief to a one that there is no temptation because there is nothing to miss out on and bhead shots are irrelevant.

Hi Carrie and thank you for stopping by, reading and commenting. Am really looking forward to seeing ‘A Royal Hangover’ when it’s released later this year and your brief clip spoke volumes to me. Indeed beauty comes from the inside, well that’s what I tell myself anyway! xx

I was just renewing my passport (for a trip to London and Oxford later this month!)- my old passport was issued about 10 years ago. OMG. I think I look 10 years older in the photo from 10 years ago than I do now. Maybe soon I’ll grow enough balls to post both photos!

You sure are beautiful. I know what you mean about a selfie beforehand, I wish I had one too. Even though the change was gradual, I still see that I look so much better now, better than I have for many years. It’s that light from within I think!